{"id":6374,"date":"2025-07-03T23:46:49","date_gmt":"2025-07-03T23:46:49","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/cita.co.uk\/news\/?p=6374"},"modified":"2025-07-03T23:46:49","modified_gmt":"2025-07-03T23:46:49","slug":"13-year-old-becomes-uks-youngest-qualified-digger-driver","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cita.co.uk\/news\/13-year-old-becomes-uks-youngest-qualified-digger-driver\/","title":{"rendered":"13-year-old becomes UK\u2019s youngest qualified digger driver"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>The grandson of Gallagher Group chairman Pat Gallagher has become\u00a0the UK\u2019s youngest qualified digger driver \u2013 at the age of just 13.<\/p>\n<p>Finlay Gallagher spent his school holidays learning how to put a JCB digger through its paces and has now passed his Construction Plant Competence Scheme exam with flying colours.<\/p>\n<p>Finlay took the industry standard proficiency test at Flynne Plant Training Centre in Rochford, Essex.<\/p>\n<div class=\"ad-mpu ad-mpu-inline\">\n<div class=\"sleeve\"><a data-ad-id=\"494661\" href=\"http:\/\/www.constructionenquirer.com\/wp-content\/themes\/constructionenquirer\/adclick.php?url=https%3A%2F%2Fbrand-accesssolutions.com%2F%3Futm_source%3Dconstruction-enquirer%26utm_medium%3Dbanner%26utm_campaign%3Dconstructionenq-ads\" target=\"_blank\" onclick=\"track_ad_click(this);\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.constructionenquirer.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/brand slower ezgif.com-animated-gif-maker.gif\"\/><\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p>His grandfather started the business back in 1973 with a single JCB 3C Mk2 and the Gallagher group now operates over 300 machines and employ more than 500 people across the South East.<\/p>\n<p>Pat said: \u201cI\u2019ve always said I wasn\u2019t much good behind the controls of a digger \u2013 so Finlay is already ahead of me! I am exceptionally proud of Finlay and everything he has achieved.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;He has always shown an incredible passion and interest for machinery from an early age, and this course has given him a chance to deepen his knowledge and ability. I was blown away by how naturally he took to it, and it really does give me great hope for the future.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;Hopefully, this inspires many other young people to give it a go and see the construction industry as a fantastic career opportunity.\u201d<\/p>\n<div class=\"ad-mpu ad-mpu-inline\">\n<div class=\"sleeve\"><a data-ad-id=\"488802\" href=\"http:\/\/www.constructionenquirer.com\/wp-content\/themes\/constructionenquirer\/adclick.php?url=https%3A%2F%2Fjmclarkltd.co.uk%3Futm_source%3DDisplay%26utm_medium%3DMPU%26utm_campaign%3DConstruction%2BEnquirer%3Futm_source%3Dconstruction-enquirer%26utm_medium%3Dbanner%26utm_campaign%3Dconstructionenq-ads\" target=\"_blank\" onclick=\"track_ad_click(this);\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.constructionenquirer.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/a4 magazine template (1200 x 1200 px) (300 x 250 px) (2).png\"\/><\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p>Finlay said: \u201cI\u2019ve loved diggers since I was really little \u2013 probably around three or four. My grandad Dave used to drive me around in his dozer, while he did the pedals and I sat on his lap. Then my grandad Pat got me interested in excavators and backhoe loaders, which started my love of JCBs.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI definitely see my future in the construction industry. My grandad Pat started the Gallagher Group, and it would mean a lot to me to play a part in helping the business continue to grow. This qualification is a great first step, and I\u2019m keen to build on it by learning to operate more types of plant machinery.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI really enjoyed the training. I liked learning how to use the JCB 3CX Plus backhoe loader and understanding what was needed to pass the course.\u201d<\/p>\n<div class=\"ad-mpu ad-mpu-inline\">\n<div class=\"sleeve\"><a data-ad-id=\"478038\" href=\"http:\/\/www.constructionenquirer.com\/wp-content\/themes\/constructionenquirer\/adclick.php?url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.creaghconcrete.co.uk%2F%3Futm_source%3Dconstruction-enquirer%26utm_medium%3Dbanner%26utm_campaign%3Dconstructionenq-ads\" target=\"_blank\" onclick=\"track_ad_click(this);\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.constructionenquirer.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/CE_Creagh.gif\"\/><\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"ad-mpu ad-mpu-inline\">\n<div class=\"sleeve\"><a data-ad-id=\"498213\" href=\"http:\/\/www.constructionenquirer.com\/wp-content\/themes\/constructionenquirer\/adclick.php?url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.ardenttide.co.uk%2Fcw%2FArticle-Seamless-Transition.html%3Futm_source%3Dconstruction-enquirer%26utm_medium%3Dbanner%26utm_campaign%3Dconstructionenq-ads\" target=\"_blank\" onclick=\"track_ad_click(this);\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.constructionenquirer.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/atl-300-250.gif\"\/><\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p>from Construction Enquirer https:\/\/ift.tt\/64BvCu5<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The grandson of Gallagher Group chairman Pat Gallagher has become\u00a0the UK\u2019s youngest qualified digger driver \u2013 at the age of just 13. Finlay Gallagher spent his school holidays learning how to put a JCB digger through its paces and has now passed his Construction Plant Competence Scheme exam with flying colours. Finlay took the industry [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":152,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[9],"class_list":["post-6374","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","tag-construction-enquirer"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cita.co.uk\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6374","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/cita.co.uk\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/cita.co.uk\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cita.co.uk\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cita.co.uk\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6374"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/cita.co.uk\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6374\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6375,"href":"https:\/\/cita.co.uk\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6374\/revisions\/6375"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cita.co.uk\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/147"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cita.co.uk\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6374"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cita.co.uk\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6374"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cita.co.uk\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6374"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}